From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS, MAILING_LIST_MULTI autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (minnie.tuhs.org [IPv6:2600:3c01:e000:146::1]) by inbox.vuxu.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2AB782762F for ; Sat, 6 Jul 2024 00:08:14 +0200 (CEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 705C143DC8; Sat, 6 Jul 2024 08:08:10 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mail.kaybuena.com (syn-071-042-153-194.biz.spectrum.com [71.42.153.194]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id EC72143DC7 for ; Sat, 6 Jul 2024 08:08:02 +1000 (AEST) Received: from [192.168.147.2] (4dot2 [71.42.153.195]) by mail.kaybuena.com (8.17.2/8.15.2) with ESMTP id 465M81OI1493154 for ; Fri, 5 Jul 2024 17:08:01 -0500 Message-ID: <383b12d9-26bf-4c1e-a1db-b919112e5f42@technologists.com> Date: Fri, 5 Jul 2024 17:08:01 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird To: tuhs@tuhs.org References: <20240705213804.550128EDF53C@ary.qy> <20240705214901.GR26356@mcvoy.com> Content-Language: en-US From: "Charles H Sauer (he/him)" In-Reply-To: <20240705214901.GR26356@mcvoy.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Greylist: Sender passed SPF test, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.6.4 (mail.kaybuena.com [71.42.153.194]); Fri, 05 Jul 2024 17:08:01 -0500 (CDT) Message-ID-Hash: YF7E2MHKUAO3EPPERMZ7OFG4EVFUNTMZ X-Message-ID-Hash: YF7E2MHKUAO3EPPERMZ7OFG4EVFUNTMZ X-MailFrom: sauer@technologists.com X-Mailman-Rule-Misses: dmarc-mitigation; no-senders; approved; emergency; loop; banned-address; member-moderation; header-match-tuhs.tuhs.org-0; nonmember-moderation; administrivia; implicit-dest; max-recipients; max-size; news-moderation; no-subject; digests; suspicious-header X-Mailman-Version: 3.3.6b1 Precedence: list Subject: [TUHS] Re: mental architecture models, Anyone ever heard of teaching a case study of Initial Unix? List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list Archived-At: List-Archive: List-Help: List-Owner: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: On 7/5/2024 4:49 PM, Larry McVoy wrote: > On Fri, Jul 05, 2024 at 05:38:03PM -0400, John Levine wrote: >> It appears that Peter Yardley said: >>> The DG Nova had a pretty nice architecture. 2 accumulators, 2 index registers, program counter, status register. No stack register tho. There was a micro processor version by Fairchild. >> >> It did, but it was word addressed which makes it an historical >> curiosity like its spiritual predecessors PDP-4/5/7/8/9. >> >> I also have a mental model of a PDP-11 but these days it's more a simplified 386 >> leaving out the dumb or useless stuff. > > I took a look at x86 in 386/486 days and found it to be enough of a mess that > I stopped looking. In no way did it compare the simplicity and elegance > of the PDP-11. I had a TA, Ken Witte, who could read octal dumps of PDP-11 > assembly like it was C. I'm pretty sure the way the instructions were > encoded was a big part of what made that possible. Assuming you mean the same Kendall Witte that spearheaded Dell SVR4 (https://notes.technologists.com/notes/2008/01/10/a-brief-history-of-dell-unix/), he is quite fluent in X86 as well. After Dell SVR4 he became prominent in Dell firmware work. I saw him just over a year ago at a gathering of Dell "old timers". -- voice: +1.512.784.7526 e-mail: sauer@technologists.com fax: +1.512.346.5240 Web: https://technologists.com/sauer/ Facebook/Google/LinkedIn/Twitter: CharlesHSauer